Book Review: "The Darkest Evening of the Year" by Dean Koontz

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“The Darkest Evening of the Year” is one of Dean Koontz’s most satisfying works in recent years and he has written some pretty good books during that time. Dog lovers will especially appreciate “The Darkest Evening of the Year” (2007, Bantam Books, 354 pages) because the novel is a valentine to golden retrievers. There is condemnation of puppy mills and subtle plea for saving abandoned and mistreated dogs. The most important figure in the book is a golden retriever named Nicki whose remarkable affect suggests something unworldly is going on. Koontz sets up the story in splendid manner by setting up several avenues of plot that keep the reader wondering how they are going to tie in together and when they do, Koontz pulls it off tight and nifty. Everything makes sense in the end even the supernatural element. Amy Redwing specializes in saving golden retrievers and placing them in new homes. She gains the stunningly perfect and expressive Nicki when the dog is threatened by an abuser of wives, children and animals. She feels a connection to Nicki and decides to keep the dog despite already having two goldens named Fred and Ethel. The author establishes that Amy is a kind hearted soul, one you suspect is emotionally wounded and definitely possessing a troubled past preventing her from committing to boyfriend Brian McCarthy.An architect, Brian initially appears to be a non-descript love interest, but he has a major revelation of his own integral to the story. As usual, the most interesting characters are the bad guys and Koontz has drawn three strong ones. Sociopath serial killer for hire Billy Pilgrim leads a team performing surveillance on Amy and Brian. Billy is the scariest of killer being an ordinary looking man with a pleasant nature yet will kill without second thought. However, Billy is run of the mill compared to the psycho team of Moongirl and Harrow whom Koontz keeps the reader guessing as to their role in the plot for quite awhile. Moongirl is an insane sociopath femme fatale with a penchant for torture and burning and such a chilling personality as to keep her partner-in-crime on edge. And Harrow is no slouch in the killing game. There is nothing supernatural concerning Moongirl who is just plain evil. In the past several decades, Koontz has surpassed Stephen King in their shared genre for good reason. His characters are strong, stories conclude in logical satisfying fashion and most important, Koontz does not meander for hundreds of pages or get sidetracked into political diatribe. “The Darkest Evening of the Year” is a swift read with no extraneous fat.